PC or Mac?

Sata has been in G5s since their inception. DDR2 is in the new iMacs, 64 bit was in G5s since there inception (2 years ago I think) I am not sure what dual channel memory is.

PCI express is in the new dual core G5s and new iMacs.

 

Bit perfect CD copying (ala EAC)

Unsure

Peer 2 peer file sharing programs (i.e. bit torrent, direct connect, limewire and usenet)

Lime wire, Bit Torrent, Azeraus, usenet all available for mac since time began.

Compressed file encoding (other than mp3 or apple, example musepack, ogg vorbis, flac, monkeys audio, div X, X vid etc etc)

Flak, etc is all available as free downloads, its not built into the OS any more than it is on PC.

Disc cloning software (like Clone CD)

There is a lot, none the least of which is Disk Utility which is part of the OS, it also creates .DMG files, I am not sure if these exist on PCs, but in essence mounts like a seperate drive, handy for putting CDs onto your harddrive.

Java based VNC server / client (like Real and Ultra VNC) - for controlling home PC through web browser at a remote site?

Chicken of VNC is free and works flawlessly for me, others are available.

Chat clients - MSN Messenger, MIRC etc etc

iChat comes as part of the OS and has no peer for video chat. MSN, AOL, Andium etc all available for mac as PC.

Freeware photo editing - i.e. GIMP

Gimp works on Mac once you have installed X11, they are apparently working on a native one.

Freeware antivirus - i.e. AVG Free

ClamXV

Compatability with USB devices - not just IPOD, but rival players, digital cameras, etc.

I have thrown many a digital camera at it with no issues. iRivers and any other harddrive or flash based device should load as a harddrive no problems, as do Card readers etc etc.

One of the quickest ways to see whats out there is a scan round apple.com click on OSX then software, or have a look at www.macupdate.com

 

Nice. I'm pleased.

 

I will happily admit the Mini Mac is a great product and for what you get it is actually good value compared to similar spec mini PC.

 

PC's undoubtedly.

Apple **** me off with their totally unreasonable pricing for substandard hardware. The G4 is what... 2 generations old now? Been around since about 2002? How much is a G4 Powerbook? £1099+

It's not on, especially when you go to my uni, full of posers with powerbooks or those that are cheating the dyslexia test to get a free one. The platform may be stable, but there's almost never the software you need to get a job done. It's stupid.

PC's offer alot more hardware variety (especially in terms of soundcards etc). All apple offers is a limited base of Creative soundcards (awful) and sodding inbuilt sound. PC's also offer a lot more software variety.

 

Well M3G4 your a youngin eh?

 

That is the one thing I hate about Apple the most, the poser issue. Having said that I am guilty of having a Sony mobile phone which I cannot afford to get credit for

 

People only pose because they have something to pose with haha.

Actually I do like sony Vios, but apart from these and apples every other laptop is crap to pose with, we all know it so lets get over it.

 

The Sony varios are not bad, my lecturer had one, but it broke down three times within two years. The screen was very very nice though, its by far the best TFT I had ever seen.

 

More use than an Apple or a PC.

 

No, actually I am a very conservative user; and I have troubles in every computer I use - I use 4. Every 3-4 months I have some kind of trouble, but always connected with the operative system. And I have problems since Win85.

Now I use XP, and I wonder if longhorn (or such like name) will be an actual improvement. Any guesses?

 

People pose because they lack charisma. lack of charisma can be fatal.

 

Longhorn was supposed to be all things to all people. DB object store as a file system and all sorts. All lies, damn lies I tell ye. Even the "codename" sucks.

 

Greg you have me all wrapped up in the computer I use, you must be very proud.

 

Auric I think they could call it the 'Gaydar.' Having visited SF I think it would fit rather well.

 

Sorry, but that really is absolute nonsense. Apart from a few rare exceptions, virtually all the major audio interface manufacturers have Mac and PC drivers. In fact, off the top of my head, the only one I can think of that's PC only is Emu. On the other side of the fence, the only ones I can think of that are Mac only are the new Apogee Ensemble and Symphony interfaces which were announced a couple of weeks ago. And I have no idea at all what you mean by Apple only offering Creative soundcards - what on earth have Apple and Creative got to do with each other?

To the original poster, I wouldn't have thought that using your fonts on a Mac would be a problem - as I understand it, Type 1 fonts are supported natively by OSX, so you should be fine there. Best to check with Adobe though, just to make absolutely sure.

It goes without saying the word processing on a Mac is pretty much exactly the same experience as word processing on a PC. And despite what the goons at PC World might tell you, MS Office is available for Macs. (I believe Word even started out as a Mac app before it turned up for Windows.) And the iLife apps bundled in with the computer will take care of all your home video editing needs unless you're looking to do something really ambitious.

I'd never heard of it before, but from looking at the website, it would appear that SPSS is available for both Windows and Mac, although not all versions. I didn't look very hard, but they might possibly do crossgrades from one platform to the other? If not, that looks like it might be a rather pricey one to have to get a new licence for though.

Basically, if you fancy a change, it sounds like a Mac would suit you fine. They're not perfect, but then again neither are PCs. And as someone else pointed out, Macs also tend to keep their value so if six months down the line, you find you're not getting on with OSX and want to go back to Windows, you'll find it pretty easy to resell a Mac without losing an absolute fortune on the deal.

 

Many thanks to all who have helped me. I am still in a state of indecision, though. In any case, I bought my portable last spring, so I will not be changing very soon.

And yes, the problem with spss is that I get it through my Faculty and I doubt they would buy a Mac license just for me (there are other Mac users, though).

A last request: is there any truly performing but not expensive (desktop editing) software for Mac and a really pro statistics bundle but at a reasonable price?

Again many thanks for your feedback: it has really been useful.

 

Desktop editing, do you mean page layout type of thing?

There is a fairly large amount of desktop editing software out there including a quite big package they released for free, for the life of me I cannot remember the name though, I'll have a dig around.

What do you mean by pro statistics? There are hundreds of entries if you type 'statistics' in hehe.

 

I really wasnt referring to you, surely you dont use your Mac to pose? Maybe you do.

 

Haha, no not really, the iBook I own has rarely left the house.